iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac OS X Server,  Mac Security

Upgrade to iOS 7 from an iOS Device.

Most of my readers have already upgraded from iOS 6 to iOS 7. But, you might need to write some technical documentation on how to do so for your end users. If you find yourself in such a situation, you can just cut-copy-paste this article into your own documentation.

Preflight

First, backup the device. When I did this upgrade I was flying without a net and didn’t bother to back the device I was upgrading up. Having said that, I also don’t keep any data on my device, so I would strongly recommend backing up before you do your upgrade if you do have content you want to make sure your preserve. The upgrade doesn’t erase your data; however, whenever you’re doing a major update, it’s a good idea to backup (it’s also a good idea to backup when you’re not doing a major update). If you need to backup, check out this article on manually backing up with iTunes.

Most will also want to go ahead and update to iTunes 11.1. This will allow the device to work once it’s been upgraded.

Finally, before you get started, connect your device to a power source as you wouldn’t want the device to possibly die due to a power failure in the middle of running the update.

Installation

Once you’ve backed up, open the Settings app on the device.

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From within the Settings app, tap on General to open the General pane of the Settings app..

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From the General pane of the Settings app, tap on Software Update.

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From the Software Update screen tap on Download and Install to start the installation, or let’s tap on Learn More to see what’s in the update.

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At the Learn More screen, you’ll see the release note for the software. This is a major OS update, so there are pages and pages of notes about what this update is for. Provided you’re happy with these updates, tap on Software Update at the top of the screen to go back to the Software Update screen and tap on Download and Install to begin the installation process.

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From the Terms and Conditions page, tap on Agree to accept the license agreement (obviously provided that you do) and the update will run. This is going to take awhile. You can use the device while the update is running (it will even keep the state of Safari browsing once restarted).

The device will restart automatically once updated.

Now that you’re done with the upgrade, go ahead and back the device up again in iTunes and start exploring some of the awesome new features.

Note for Apple Configurator users, in order to get the power of iOS 7 you’ll need to update to Apple Configurator 1.4, available on the App store as of today. The release notes for it:

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Good luck!